You have probably heard me joke about my wife’s girlfriend. That’s not entirely a joke. More than one of my lovely girlfriends, Ellie also helps with sound design, level design and other aspects of development. She is also a fan of Daytime Drama.
I decided to ask Ellie some questions.
Sanya: So, hon, tell everyone how you discovered me and Waffle Iron Studios
Ellie: I first discovered WIS and Sanya via Icarus’ video on Daytime Drama 1. Safe to say I got hooked on the game – to the point where I pushed myself to ‘pro’ it. 100% and on the hidden discourse difficulty. Sometime later I interacted with Sanya via Twatter dot com and the rest is history.
Sanya: Tell us a bit about yourself.
Ellie: Just a bitch out west that’s into gaming, gaymareing, and whatever neat shit she orders online. In her early twenties she just wants to get out and have fun and spread the peace yo, and dem liberman infuriating video games. Blonde, likes big cool things, likes big chaos, that’s pretty much all you need to know.
Sanya: Do you have any hobbies or interests?
Ellie: Like I just said, I like gaming. Pretty much the only thing I have in my area but I also love gmod machinima. Practically grew up on that wackiness and would like to take part in it one day.
Also I have a weird fascination with food science, not like the kinda cancer causing shit in Mcdoonkies but the kinda study that goes into MRE’s and such. No idea why I just find it neat!
Sanya: I’ve been asking everyone this, but how’s lockdown treating you?
Ellie: I’m probably gonna be in the handful that says it’s actually been pretty decent? Like I found my first job (barring the work in WIS of course) and I got to hang with some legit cool peeps.
Sanya: You helped initially with the prototype of Daytime Drama 2 before it got cancelled. I know that probably made you sad, considering you were a big fan of the first project.
Ellie: Not too bothered by it honestly, It was a great way to ease into doing this kind of work. It was a great learning experience all around!
Sanya: I want to assure you some proper followup to Daytime Drama will happen. Sanya’s story isn’t over. In fact, it’s only the beginning.
Sanya: You were – and still are – big on My Little Pony: Friendship is magic. Tell us how you got into the series, and how it’s affected you.
Ellie: Back in early 2012 I came across a little song in the community called ‘Beyond her Garden’, safe to say after that I fell in love with the show and community. Ever since then the show and the friends ive made along with it have helped me through life in many ways. I can’t properly describe it, it’s had that much of an impact on me. Neigh.
Sanya: Let’s talk about Scoot Hard DX – first off, hard to believe this was in development longer than Daytime Drama, and is now infinitely more polished than DD was. I am shocked, so I wonder how you feel about it.
Ellie: SHDX is surely something to be proud of. Watching the whole dynamic change and shift with the team was amazing and the fact we made a pastel horse game that’s actually really fun to play just totally amazes me. Here’s to all our future projects getting better and better!
Sanya: What did you do on Scoot Hard DX specifically?
Ellie: I mainly worked on the weapon sounds and designed some of the levels, most notably the Pegasus Device level. I loved setting up the foundation(s) for that and the set piece for the Device level!
Sanya: What was it like doing a few levels for Scoot Hard DX?
Ellie: Very interesting. I haven’t really touched Ultimate Doom Builder before working on the project. Enjoyed it very much however!
Sanya: I know it’s been a mixed bag with Project Absentia being a non-pony continuation of Scoot Hard DX with more content and even more polish. How do you feel about that?
Ellie: Honestly, I’m completely fine with it. SHDX is a great pony mod but I do know it sorta limits our reach and capabilities. I’m very excited to see where Absentia and beyond takes us!
Sanya: I know you have connections to Bree and some other pony related content creators. I think that’s cool.
Ellie: Uh… Neigh Neigh Whinny. Whinny Neigh Neigh, Whinny!
Sanya: Speaking of brony content, I know you had an experience being on Brohoof, a brony themed Minecraft server that I believe is now defunct. I also know that’s where you met Jenna if memory serves correctly. What was your involvement there?
Ellie: Brohoof was… definitely a life changing experience for me. By the time I found it I was a miserable little high schooler to say the least. Brohoof helped me break a lot of mental health issues I was experiencing at the time, and basically helped me break out of Social Anxiety and all of that crap.
Sanya: Name some of your favorite boomer shooters.
Ellie: The entire Doom series for one, but my all time favorite HAS to be Blood. Blood is good. Blood is eternal. Blood should really have an actual continuation at this point. Atari please give more Blood you useless company.
Sanya: Name some of your favorite non-boomer shooter games.
Ellie: I definitely have a wide variety of tastes for games, but Minecraft and Garry’s Mod are for sure in the top 3. Killing Floor 1 then has to be #3 for me. It is sooooo friggin’ intense and satisfying, and while KF2 is very good, KF1 just hits all the right spots for me. Intense action, Gore aplenty, and Great Co-op play. You have to pay attention or else it’s your head basically! Not to mention it managed to hold it’s own around the time big zombie games like Left 4 Dead 2 and Dead Island were coming out. (Even though, despite popular belief, the specimens/zeds are NOT zombies!!!)
Sanya: how does it feel that there’s a ton of retro themed shooters now, offsetting the AAA game industry and their insistence on microtransactions, in-game ads, and mundane single player. What’s it like to be in a boomer shooter renaissance?
Ellie: Amazing honestly. The amount of talent and unique ideas being tossed around now is just, unique. All the experience from Doom mods and such are finally culminating in a 2nd wave of pure action, no bullshit. My hat is off to everyone who is participating, whether that being developing projects, or purchasing and playing said projects.
Sanya: What’s been your experience at Waffle Iron Studios?
Ellie: Nothing short of amazing. Y’all are so friendly it makes me feel so warm inside haha! I’m just sorry I haven’t been around much recently due to IRL shite.
Sanya: Waffle Iron Studios is full of injokes. Name your favorite.
Ellie: Bonjour. Bonjourno.
Sanya: I don’t mean for this to be wordy… but here we go. Scoot Hard DX/Project Absentia has LGBTQ+ themes, but often shows LGBTQ+ characters in shades of grey, rather than what I’d call… “precious smol been uwu”. I feel when I write stuff, it’s more natural and honest to show LGBTQ+ people can be good, bad or downright ugly. I’ve seen some people argue this is bad representation because it shows LGBTQ+ characters as bad. I don’t agree with them, as they’re not bad because they’re part of the alphabet. What do you think about that?
Ellie: Fuck the twitter idiots, Anyone who is anyone can be whoever they dang well please. I just want to be a big blonde with big tits, not some neon haired twitter-physco… this too much?
Sanya: Let’s talk about weapon design as I know you’re into guns, fictional and real – it’s important that a weapon has a nice, unique design that makes it stand out. Is there anything else important for weapon design?
Ellie: Be as creative as you want, but make sure it’s functional from a design standpoint as well. How does it work? What is it’s ammunition source? How does it load? I sometimes even create entire fake guns n such by just mimicking how it’ll work with my hands .w.
Sanya: I want to let you know you changed my life so much. I met you and my other partners because of you. You also showed me that even today, my projects can stand out. You inspired me to keep going. I’m grateful to know you, love. I want to let you know I’ve got your back as long as you’ve got mine.
Ellie: Awww haha, you too Babe ^^
Sanya: Anything else you want to add?
Ellie: Ding Dong Dingle Doo, your mcdongle is now a noodle
EllieJojo is an interesting girl as you can see. I look forward to what our future holds.
…boobs good